World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist with Addition of Infection Control Items: Intervention Study in Egypt

BACKGROUND: Surgical team is in command of the operating room (OR) and takes decisions regarding various patient care procedures. Educational programs directed to them, should be creative, provocative and tailored to their specific needs and the expected outcomes. AIM: This study aims to design and conduct an educational program of patient safety and infection control for the OR team based on the WHO surgical safety checklist and to assess their post-intervention knowledge and practices. METHODS: This interventional study was conducted at the ORs of Port-said general hospital. It passed through three stages; baseline assessment of knowledge and practice regarding patient safety and infection control among OR team (surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses), intervention stage in which an educational program based on the WHO surgical safety checklist with modifications and additions of more infection control items was conducted, then re-assessment of their post-intervention knowledge and practices. RESULTS: All the studied participants showed improvement in both knowledge and practices of patient safety and infection control after the educational program based on the WHO surgical safety checklist with modifications and additions of more infection control items and including not only practices but also knowledge as well, than before. CONCLUSION: The modification of the WHO surgical safety checklist to fit local knowledge and practices created a comprehensive tool that led to an improvement in both knowledge and practices of patient safety and infection control among the OR team

Predictive Computational Model for Damage Behavior of Metal-Matrix Composites Emphasizing the Effect of Particle Size and Volume Fraction

In this paper, an integrated numerical model is proposed to investigate the effects of particulate size and volume fraction on the deformation, damage, and failure behaviors of particulate-reinforced metal matrix composites (PRMMCs). In the framework of a random microstructure-based finite element modelling, the plastic deformation and ductile cracking of the matrix are, respectively, modelled using Johnson–Cook constitutive relation and Johnson–Cook ductile fracture model. The matrix-particle interface decohesion is simulated by employing the surface-based-cohesive zone method, while the particulate fracture is manipulated by the elastic–brittle cracking model, in which the damage evolution criterion depends on the fracture energy cracking criterion. A 2D nonlinear finite element model was developed using ABAQUS/Explicit commercial program for modelling and analyzing damage mechanisms of silicon carbide reinforced aluminum matrix composites. The predicted results have shown a good agreement with the experimental data in the forms of true stress–strain curves and failure shape. Unlike the existing models, the influence of the volume fraction and size of SiC particles on the deformation, damage mechanism, failure consequences, and stress–strain curve of A359/SiC particulate composites is investigated accounting for the different possible modes of failure simultaneously